Is Formula E actually becoming real-life Mario Kart?

So, Formula E has released a video demonstrating how its new ‘Attack Mode’ will work throughout the upcoming fifth season.

This is not the first time we’ve seen Formula E and Mario Kart cross paths, true, but this new software has got many of us in the driving.ca office wondering whether the world’s biggest all-electric single-seater series is actually being sponsored by Nintendo.

‘Attack Mode,’ for example, is a button on the steering wheel that, when pressed, boosts the car’s power output to 225 kW (302 hp), up 25 kW on the motor’s 200 kW (268 hp) ‘Race Mode’ output, but not quite on par with the 250-kW (335-hp) peak of which the SRT05e is capable.

It’s basically the same as collecting a box with three mushrooms inside, but not quite the same as getting a gold star.

All clear so far? Okay, good.

To ‘arm’ Attack Mode, drivers first need to go off-line through a pre-designated zone and cross three timing sensors. This ultimately loses the driver time, but allows him/her to use this increased grunt down the following straight.

And to make the Attack Mode activation zone clear for viewers at home, brightly coloured graphics will be rendered on-track.

So, yeah…it’s…it’s a Dash Panel.

And we’re not done yet. To further show which drivers are in Attack Mode, an LED light incorporated into the HALO device above their cockpit will glow blue, while those drivers with Fan Boost will glow magenta.

Y’know, Fan Boost, an arbitrary system in which a driver can receive an additional surge of power in the closing stages of the race in order to catch up to the leader. Rendering his lead to that point moot. Like Bullet Bill. Or the ‘catch-up mechanic’.

Attack Mode will make its debut at the Ad Diriyah ePrix in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 15 December, where presumably a Lakitu in an anthropomorphic cloud will wave the field away for the formation lap behind a moustachioed gentlemen in blue dungarees taking a day-off from his busy plumbing schedule.